Two militants killed as army foils infiltration bid along Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir

Two unidentified militants were killed as the Army foiled an infiltration bid by ultras along the Line of Control (LoC) in Nowgam sector of north Kashmir’s Kupwara district on Saturday.

Defence spokesman, Colonel Rajesh Kalia said a suspicious moment was detected by the army in Nowgam sector along the LoC early Saturday morning. “Own forces swiftly launched an ambush, resulting in the killing of two militants. Two AK-47 rifles and warlike stores were recovered. Details to follow,” he said.

Sources told DH that a combing operation was on to rule out the presence of more militants in the area. On June 30, the army had said that an infiltration bid was foiled at Parkian Gali sector in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district on the intervening night of June 29 and June 30 when a group of six-eight militants, in two groups tried to sneak in.

After the initial exchange of fire, the militants, according to the army, went back to the Pakistani side.

While the focus of security agencies in recent years has remained on curbing home-grown militancy in southern Kashmir, there are reports that battle-hardened Pakistani militants may have sneaked into Kashmir to revive terror-network in the woods of Kupwara.

Infested with heavily-armed foreign terrorists from 1993-2003, Kupwara was known as ‘Gateway of Militancy’ as most of the militants infiltrated through this district in the 1990’s.

“Pakistan spy agency ISI and its army want to revive that deadly phase of militancy in Kupwara so that it could act as a nerve centre of terrorism in Kashmir. With this intention, in recent weeks, Pakistan army increased shelling and firing along the LoC to push in militants into the Valley from four launch pads across the LoC in Kupwara,” a source told DH.

They said the newly infiltrated militants were not only more trained and more motivated but carrying sophisticated weapons to inflict more damage on security forces.